The 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum held a symposium, titled "What Civil Societies Can Do toward the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in 2008," on October 14, 2007, in Tokyo, where they also released a joint position paper. Established in January 2007 by a group of over 100 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the NGO Forum decided to produce a policy proposal and submit it to G8 governments, including Japan, the host of the G8 Summit, which will be held in Toyako, Hokkaido, in July 2008.
The position paper is concerned with current issues regarding the environment, human rights and peace, poverty and development, and related matters where immediate action is required. In the section of the paper on climate change and biodiversity, the groups called on the Japanese government to lead the world by making climate change a major component of the G8 Summit's agenda and to strengthen domestic policies by imposing a carbon tax, introducing carbon trading, and regulating both stationary and mobile emission sources. They also proposed that Japan's government cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 compared to the fiscal 1990 level.
The symposium included lectures by speakers invited from Asia and Africa and special sessions focused on specific fields. In the keynote speech, Dr. Jeri Wauconda from Kenya reported that expanded demand for biofuel has been accelerating further environmental destruction, and suggested that Japanese NGOs should work to persuade the G8 countries to set standards for biofuel production.
Ms. Masako Hoshino, representative of the NGO Forum, pointed out that public does not recognize the role of NGOs in advocacy work. "I would like to have 2008 be remembered as Year One for NGO advocacy in Japan," she said.
* Information on this Web site has been screened from a vast pool of articles in the Japanese-language media, then edited and translated into English. In selecting and writing articles, JFS makes an effort to provide information that will convey the key trends and breakthroughs in a variety of fields.
* For readers who want more details, we have provided links to related JFS articles. If you find any failed links or have suggestions on other links to make, please let us know.
